When In Rome.....Be Rude

Day 14
Rome, Italy
Reading: From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

Blog title today is brought to you by Chris, a guy from San Diego, who noticed, as I did, that the Italians aren't that keen on waiting on Americans. Or talking to Americans. Or having to answer questions. It's not that they are out and out rude or that all of them are that way. Not at all. We've met some great staff. But on the majority, there always seems to be this pregnant pause when they realize you're American, and then a sigh, then they help you out.

This especially applies to the museum staff at the Vatican Museum. Really not thrilled to have to answer questions. That aside, the Vatican was beautiful. I went on a tour myself, with an audio guide. Sort of wished I had done the guided tour so I understood a bit better what I was looking at. Standing under the Sistine Chapel was impressive. Humbling to look up at the center of the ceiling and understand that one of the greatest artists in history had an idea and executed it so flawlessly.

I enjoyed the Museum, even if I'm not a massive fan of religious art. I get that it's a major part of art history. As I don't follow Catholicism, I wasn't especially moved by the stories of the popes. But the collection was incredible. I think my favorite room was the "map room" (I'm sure there's an impressive Italian name for it). It's a long hallway that is lines on all sides by massive paintings of maps of Italy, done in incredible detail. It was like walking through a fairy tale or something. So much color. Loved that spot.

After the Vatican, I met up with a few people I had met in San Diego and we went sightseeing. We went to this church with a odd quirk. The Capuchin Crypt is under a very non-descript church. Well, non-descript as the churches here can be. They're all pretty incredible. Underneath this church are 5 or 6 rooms with bone art work covering the walls. The story I got was that the chruch ran out of room in their cemetary, so they started using the bones as artwork. It's fascinating and only a little creepy, spooky, eerie. The walls are covered in skulls, tailbones, vertebrae, fingers, etc. It looks amazing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capuchin_Crypt

We walked around for a few hours, just exploring. Had a great dinner. At first the wait staff wasn't thrilled to be waiting on us. But after we ordered more than one bottle of wine, they loosened up. The head waiter led us down to an underground gallery that they have, where they have stored all sorts of sculptures and mosaics that they have discovered. Apparently, Rome has these types of places everywhere. There is so much history that has been recovered that private owners have just sort of "taken" what they find and set up their own private galleries. We saw a mosaic floor that has been there for over 2000 years.

Today's my last day. I'm headed to the Colosseum for a tour and then meeting up the San Diego people again for more sightseeing. This trip has been so fantastic, but I think I'm ready for a break. I haven't really processed that today is the last day. It'll hit me tomorrow.